Directed by TV Chandran
Produced by Aryadan Shoukathu
Songs sung by
Starring: Meera Jasmine, MR Gopakumar, Mammukoya, Anu Joseph.

T.V.Chandran is one of the few directors in Malayalam who is still a supporter of “new wave movement” of the 70’s. He continues to make more films in that genre and Padom Onnu Oru Vilapam is his latest which was premiered recently at the Film Festival of Asian cinema in New Delhi.

The film has many poignant moments and as usual Chandran deals with human relationships and struggles. This time he brings to spotlight child marriages prevailing among Muslims of Malapuram district in Kerala.

These marriages are known as “Mysore Kalyanam” where an old or elderly Muslim male picks girls who have hardly reached puberty. Shaheena (Meera Jasmine) is the protagonist here and she is a bright girl studying in 10th class. She lives with her mother and her uncle fixes her marriage with an old man. Shaheena protests as she wants to study but the local Mullah and others intervene and force her to marry an old man whose first wife and children soon become her friends! The old man drugs and rapes her and when she realises everything, she is shattered. The old man soon gives her Talaq (divorce) and it is celebration for Shaheena. She is happy to be back home with her mother and go to school. But soon she realizes that she is pregnant. Her mother dies and Shaheena delivers a baby. The story stresses that Shaheena is one among hundreds of young ill-fated brides.

If Chandran’s idea was to educate and inform about the denial of basic human rights, his intentions are noble. But in the final analysis Padom Onnu Oru Vilapam is too dry and dull to absorb. The director has put together a few incidents and his effort is like a lesson read out earnestly by a schoolteacher without any fervour.

The highlight of Padom Onnu… is Meera Jasmine, as Shaheena. She is credible and life-like. M.R.Gopakumar, Mamookoya amd Anu Joseph in supporting roles are expectedly adept.